Working Start > Business Startup > Business Idea

How to Find Ideas for Your Own Business

Definition, Explanation

Every business start-up is based on a promising business idea. Few of those ideas are really completely new. Rather, most are based on already existing ones that are developed further or adapted to new customer groups or branches, or transferred in from other countries and places. Only with a rough business idea, one can and should make up a business plan.

Tips, Checklist

• The business idea must suit you. That is why a personality test is advisable to check your strengths, propensities, experiences and relations and whether self-employment would be a good choice for you. Relevant questions are family- and finance-situation, necessary time and your aptitude to be an entrepreneur
• Keep your eyes peeled: are you annoyed by something or do you miss a certain service, a web offer, a product? Do you notice something nice on vacation abroad that you would like to have at home as well?
• Discover market gaps that way
• Copy successful concepts. The best example are franchising-ideas. But mind patent rights, copy rights or trademark rights
• Transfer well proven ideas from one branch into another
• Use technical advancements. Some strange puzzle-works have become a successful business that way
• Specialize known business ideas and thus compete with the others
• Notice the trends. There are prognoses by national and international trend scouts
• Play on booming branches and successful concepts and be inspired by ingenious ideas
• Use the known creativity techniques
• Consider that the brightest idea will not succeed unless you take some action and realize it
• Listen good to your (potential) customers. Complaints are the very hints what a product or service should be made like. Adapt your business idea to that
• Talk as much as possible about your idea. That way, the idea and concept will maturate and you will improve your arguments or can refine your idea
• Give your idea a testing try-out run with possibly low capital
• Take your time. Especially new ideas have to wait till the market is ready. Making your vision come true will take clear objectives and stamina

Last update: 06/15/2010